Spring Training Online

The effort to bring the Baltimore Orioles to Sarasota is on life support after the Sarasota County Commission scaled back their financial offer to the team, offering $22 million toward a renovated Ed Smith Stadium. There was no immediate reaction from the team; the Orioles had been asking for $57 million, which would build a […]

Yesterday’s deadline set by Indian River County and Vero Beach officials for the Baltimore Orioles to make a commitment to Dodgertown has come and gone with the Orioles instead making a counteroffer that goes far past the initial offer of $13 million in ballpark improvements and 37.5 acres of land. In fact, the land is […]

The prospects of a Baltimore Orioles move to Sarasota for spring training brightened significantly last week when the team agreed to a reduced budget and offered $5 million toward maintenance toward a new complex. The Orioles are still sticking with the idea of replacing Ed Smith Stadium, the current spring home of the Reds, with […]

The Baltimore Orioles and Sarasota County have reached an impasse in negotiations for the team’s potential move to Sarasota — and the impasse is very serious, causing the Orioles to send Cal Ripken Jr. to the Gulf Coast city yesterday in an effort to sway some opinions. The Orioles are proposing a $65-million makeover of […]

The new Glendale (Az.) spring home of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago White Sox will be named Camelback Ranch, as the teams (for now) eschew a naming-rights deal. The announcement was made by Dodger Owner and Chairman Frank McCourt and White Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf. “Camelback Ranch in Glendale soon will be known as […]

The Arizona Diamondbacks confirmed ongoing talks with four potential operators of spring-training sites in the greater Phoenix area, including the Gila River Indian Reservation. (We hinted at this yesterday with a reference to a river running through of the potential spring-training training sites.) The Diamondbacks have trained at Tucson Electric Park since the team’s inception, […]

Sarasota officials say they need a little time to review a proposal from the Baltimore Orioles for a $65-million spring-training complex. As discussed in last night’s county commission meeting, the proposal calls for revenues generated from the tourist tax to pay for a renovation of Ed Smith Stadium, currently the spring home of the Cincinnati […]

The Cincinnati Reds paved the way for a 2010 spring-training move with a groundbreaking of a new Goodyear, Az. spring-training complex. The $33-million complex, located south of Interstate 10 along Estrella Parkway, doesn’t look like much now: it’s basically a dusty field like so many other dusty fields in the southwestern corner of Phoenix. But […]

Pima County Commissioners accepted Chicago’s offer of $5 million to break the team’s spring lease in Tucson, freeing the way for a White Sox move to Glendale next spring. In the end, county commissioners decided not to keep the White Sox to their Tucson Electric Park lease, which ran through 2012. The White Sox had […]

One of the great joys of spring training is the relatively cheapness of the best seats in the ballpark. You need to work pretty hard to spend more than $35 on a prime behind-the-plate ducat. The Los Angeles Dodgers are blowing that formula right out of the water. After announcing the team’s spring-training schedule — […]